Forget about Freud. And this has nothing to do with the character of the believer or the non believer. Focus bro, focus.
Belief in God as wish fulfillment is one of the most common atheist arguments. It’s so common because it’s been around for many decades. The argument seems to carry a lot of weight, because it makes a lot of sense.
But the opposition has a counter argument which has not been around very long, or perhaps it simply hasn’t had as much exposure for whatever reason. It could be something Lewis wrote about—I’m not sure. This counter argument completely neutralizes the atheist wish fulfillment argument, because it shows that a psychological excuse for atheism is equally as likely as one for theism.
If God doesn’t exist, you can do whatever you want. “As long as nobody else gets hurt.” See Dostoyevsky, Sartre, Bentham, Mill.
But if God does exist, we all will be held accountable by a judge who has control over everything. In such a scenario the price for sin is indescribably high.
I think it's a completely valid criticism of belief though, and I think it's provable in that people choose their religions. Even within Christianity, you choose which denomination you want to follow and associate with.
Try this thought experiment...
Is there anything within your faith that you "wish" to not be true? Is there something you "wish" were different?
While I do agree that it can be true for non-belief, most people I know who are non-believers tend to say "I wish there was a God and a Heaven, but I just don't see evidence for it."
I don't think it's to the same degree, because if you asked most non-believers if they "wished" that it was all over after you die, I'd assume most of them would say no, and that it would be great to have a relaxing eternal paradise.
If God doesn’t exist, you can do whatever you want.
Well, this is a great theory, but it's just not true. It might make sense in a classroom (just like the welfare state is SUPPOSED to help the poor), but it doesn't in real life.
Human solidarity and a respect for others is not something that is unique to theism, and like I said, the incarceration rate is highest among believers. People tend to do bad things and hurt people regardless of whether they believer there's a God. Fear of eternal punishment or violating God's law is no more a deterrent than earthly laws and justice and one's own individual conscience, and this is just a 100% proven statistical fact.
But if God does exist, we all will be held accountable by a judge who has control over everything.
Also a great theory, but even Christians don't have a 100% objective idea of God's law. Some Christians think non-religious dancing, alcohol, tobacco, gambling, watching R-Rated movies, and whatever else are sins.
You can pretend that there is a known 100% objective law from God, but the reality is that there's mostly disagreement on a lot of vices, and that the serious crimes are already accepted as such by non-theistic societies and people.
I don't murder because I'm against hurting other people, and would not want to be murdered myself. Confucius spoke the "Golden Rule" a couple of hundred years before Christ, and had no knowledge of the God of Abraham. This gives you an idea that the virtue of not hurting people is somewhat ingrained into us as advanced (but flawed) primates. Societies and cultures that are founded upon murder, rape, torture, and slavery tend to die out, and don't stick around long enough to populate the gene pool and evolve.